System for recess mounting panel instruments



1965 H. A. BAKKE 3, 31,225

SYSTEM FOR RECESS MOUNTING PANEL INSTRUMENTS Filed Sept. 1, 1964INVENTOR: HANS A. BAWKE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,231,225 SYSTEMFOR RECESS MQUNTING PANEL INSTRUMENTS Hans A. Baklre, Swampscott, Mass,assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York FiledSept. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 393,567 Claims. (Cl. 248-27) This inventionrelates to an instrument mounting system, and more particularly, to amounting system especially .adapted for recess mounting of panelinstruments.

Panel mounting of instruments, and the various techniques for mountinginstrument upon panels, have lately assumed new importance because ofthe significant trend towards automation in industry which makesextensive use of panel mounted instrumentation. This has generated .anincreased interest in panel construction and has demonstrated a need forimproved techniques which will be more economical and facilitate therapid installation of instruments upon panels.

This invention is more particularly concerned with recess mounting panelinstruments so that only the instrument scale is viewable through thepanel cutout. It is highly desirable to provide mounting systems of thistype which Will readily permit a standard panel instrument to beinstalled by one person. It is also important to simplify the mountingsystem to render it more adaptable to assembly-line type techniques.Furthermore, it is also equally desirable from an aesthetic standpointto develop a mounting system in which the width of the bezel is dictatedprimarily by aesthetic considerations rather than by structuralconsiderations dictated by the requirements of the mounting system. Thisis especially the case when dealing with very small panel instrumentssince a large bezel is completely unacceptable from an aestheticstandpoint in such a situation. Another area of interest relates tomethods for increasing the density of instrumentation that can beconveniently mounted upon a panel. The desire to increaseinstrumentation density arises out of .a need for conserving space byminimizing the size of panel necessary for any given number ofinstruments. One way of accomplishing this with instruments of a givensize is to minimize the space which is necessary between adjacentinstruments for receiving the mounting system.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a new and improvedsystem for recess mounting panel instruments which is inexpensive andyet facilitates rapid instrument installation by one person.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improvedsystem for recess mounting panel instruments which facilitates the useof production line techniques.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a new and improvedsystem for recess mounting panel instruments which permits the width ofthe bezel to be dictated primarily by aesthetic or design considerationrather than by requirements of the mounting system.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improvedsystem for recess mounting panel instruments which permits higherdensity of instrumentation upon a panel by minimizing the space occupiedby the mounting system.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the accompanyingspecification, claims, and drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the instrument andcomponents of the mounting system of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded top view of the system of the invention showingsome of the components in cooperating relationship with the panel;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of the bezel taken along lines 4-4 ofFIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, 10 designates a bezel assem-bly which, incooperation with securing means 14, serves to recess mount panelinstrument 11 upon a panel so that only the scale of the instrument isviewable from the front of the panel. Bezel assembly 10 is comprised ofa scale bezel 12 and two t-shaped elements 13 which may be inserted intoslots 21 in the two opposed and rearwardly extending sides of the bezel.Securing means 14 comprises headless screws 14a which cooperate withelements 13 to secure bezel 12 within the cutout portion of panel 30 ina manner hereinafter explained. Securing means 14 further comprises nuts14b and washers which cooperate with the headless screws to secureinstrument 11 to the rear of panel 30 through their cooperation with themetallic stampings 11a attache-d to the rear surface of the panel meter.The stampings which may be attached to the rear surface of theinstrument in any convenient manner provide means for mounting theinstrument.

In accordance with my invention, panel instrument 11 may be recessmounted upon a panel by one person by first placing bezel 12 in thecutout of panel 30. Elements 13 may then be placed within slots 21 wherethey are retained by their heads in a position in which the threadedportion provided with a threaded opening 13a extends beyond the rearsurface of panel 30 to thereby retain the bezel in the positionillustrated in FIGURE 2. Thus, bezel 12 will no longer have to be heldin the panel cutout by the installer, and consequently he may leave itunattended until the next step takes place. Normally, these operationswould be performed from the front side of the panel.

The headless screws will next be threaded into the threaded openings 13ain the extended portion of elements 13 from the rear of the panel untilthe screw comes into contact with the rear surface of panel 30. Thedrawing of flange 20 of the bezel against the front surface of panel 30serves to secure the bezel in the panel cutout. The assembly may also beleft unattended at this stage of the procedure until instrument 11 is tobe secured to panel 30. This is accomplished by placing the holes 11b inthe stampings over the free ends of the headless screws and thenadvancing the instrument into mating relationship with the rear surfacesof the bezel. When in this mating relationship, surfaces 17 of therearwardly extending sides of bezel 12 mate with inclined sides 16 ofthe transparent portion 15 of the instrument.

It is to be noted that the parallel surfaces of the opposed sides ofbezel 12 lie in the same plane as the sides of the instrument at itswidest portion, thereby permitting the width of the bezel as viewed fromthe front to be kept at a minimum. Thus, in accordance with myinvention, the rearwardly opposed sides of the bezel do not overlap thewidest portion of the instrument, yet a. close mating relationship isstill established. This is accomplished without interference from theheads of elements 13 since surfaces 17 contain recesses 17a around slots21 which receive these heads.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, the vertical alignment between bezel 12 andinstrument 11 is accurately established by bringing surface 25 incontact with surface 26 of window 15 while surface 24 simultaneouslycomes to rest upon surface 18. The forward motion of instrument 11 whenit is being secured to panel 30 will be limited by surfaces 16 and 17coming into contact with each other at the same time that front surface23 of transparent portion 15 comes into contact wit-h rearwardly facingsurfaces 22 in both sides of bezel 12. Once this mating relationship isestablished between bezel 12 and window 15 of the instrument, all straylight that might enter from the rear of the panel will be excludedexcept for that which may be admitted through the top surface 26 ofwindow 15. Thus, this recess mounting system also provides convenientaccess for lighting the scale from the rear of the panel by permittinglight to enter through surface 26 which remains exposed by bezel 12after the instrument is mounted upon the panel.

The mounting system of my invention is characterized by utilizing aminimum number of strong and relatively inexpensive-to-manufacture partsand is extremely simple to utilize during the installation operationsince it can very easily be performed by one person. Furthermore, it isnoted that the steps in the mounting process can be stopped at variousintermediate points and left completely unattended without having theparts already mounted fall out of place. The flexibility considerablysimplifies the assembling operation and permits the use of assemblylinetypes of techniques in these applications wherein a plurality of similarinstallations are to take place upon the same panel board since itpermits like operations to be carried out on all instruments beingmounted before the installer moves on to the next step in theinstallation operation. Thus, all bezels can be inserted first, followedby the securing of all the bezels to the panel board, etc. This resultsin a considerable saving in labor content of panel instrumentation.Furthermore, as was previously indicated, the system permitsaesthetically pleasing bezels for small instruments.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be thepreferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A system for recess mounting an instrument upon a panel so that onlythe scale of the instrument is viewable through the panel cutoutcomprising an instrument having a scale and a front cover, said coverhaving a transparent portion overlying said scale.

a scale bezel having a bezel opening and first and second opposed andrearwardly extending sides, each of said sides having a slot therein,

first and second elements inserted into the slots of the correspondingside from within the bezel opening when the bezel is positioned in saidcutout, said elements assuming positions in which portions thereofextend beyond the sides to overlap the edge of said cutout,

first and second means threadably received in said extended portions ofthe corresponding element for securing said bezel within said cutoutupon being advanced into contact with the rear surface of said panel,

means secured to the instrument case and having first and second holestherein for mounting said instrument, said holes being positioned sothat the free ends of said first and second securing means is receivedin the corresponding hole when the instrument is brought into the matingrelationship with the rear of said bezel, and

means threadably received on the free ends of said first and secondsecuring means to come into contact with said mounting means forsecuring said instrument in said mating relationship.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the distance between the surfacesof said bezel sides which confront the edges of the cutout issubstantially equal to the widest dimensions of the instrument casebetween said edges whereby the width of the bezel in the direction ofsaid dimension may be kept to a minimum.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said first and second elementseach has an enlarged head portion for preventing the element frompassing completely through the corresponding slot, said sides eachcontaining a recess adjacent said slots so that the head portions of theelements do' not interfere with the establishment of said matingrelationship.

4. The combination of claim '3 in which said first and second bezelsecuring means each comprises a headless screw and said instrumentsecuring means, and

said instrument securing means comprises first and second nuts, onethreaded upon each of said headless screws in contact with said mountingmeans to establish said mating relationship.

5. The combination of claim 4 in which said mounting means comprisesfirst and second metallic stampings containing said first and secondholes, respectively, said stampings being secured to the instrument casein a position such that the free ends of said headless screws isreceived in said holes when said mating relationship is established.

Reterences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,264,485 12/1941 Smith 24827 2,440,324 4/ 1948 Blakeslee 24827 2,562,260 7/ 1951Cal-dwell 248-27 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

J. PETO, Assistant Examiner.

1. A SYSTEM FOR RECESS MOUNTING AN INSTRUMENT UPON A PANEL SO THAT ONLYTHE SCALE OF THE INSTEUMENT IS VIEWABLE THROUGH THE PANEL CUTOUTCOMPRISING AN INSTRUMENT HAVING A SCALE AND A FRONT COVER, SAID COVERHAVING A TRANSPARENT PORTION OVERLYING SIDE SCALE. A SCALE BEZEL HAVINGA BEZEL OPENING AND FIRST AND SECOND OPPOSED AND REARWARDLY EXTENDINGSIDES, EACH OF SAID SIDES HAVING A SLOT THEREIN, FIRST AND SECONDELEMENTS INSERTED INTO THE SLOTS OF THE CORRESPONDING SIDE FROM WITHINTHE BEZEL OPENING WHEN THE BEZEL IS POSITIONED IN SAID CUTOUT, SAIDELEMENTS ASSUMING POSITIONS IN WHICH PORTIONS THEREOF EXTEND BEYOND THESIDES TO OVERLAP THE EDGE OF SAID CUTOUT, FIRST AND SECOND MEANSTHREADABLY RECEIVED IN SAID EXTENDED PORTIONS OF THE CORRESPONDINGELEMENT FOR SECURING SAID BEZEL WITH IN SAID CUTOUT UPON BEING ADVANCEDINTO CONTACT WITH THE REAR SURFACE OF SAID PANEL, MEANS SECURED TO THEINSTRUMENT CASE AND HAVING FIRST AND SECOND HOLES THEREIN FOR MOUNTINGSAID INSTRUMENT, SAID HOLES BEING POSITIONED SO THAT THE FREE ENDS OFSAID FIRST AND SECOND SECURING MEANS IS RECEIVED IN THE CORRESPONDINGHOLE WHEN THE INSTURMENT IS BROUGHT INTO THE MATING RELATIONSHIP WITHTHE REAR OF SAID BEZEL, AND MEANS THREADABLY RECEIVED ON THE FREE ENDSOF SAID FIRST AND SECOND SECURING MEANS TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH SAIDMOUNTING MEANS FOR SECURING SAID INSTRUMENT IN SAID MATING RELATIONSHIP.